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Shakespeare Series II

Shakespeare Uncovered continues with a second season on WCVE PBS / WHTJ PBS, beginning Friday, January 30 at 9:00 p.m. and continuing the following two successive Fridays. Like the first series, the second installment of Shakespeare Uncovered combines history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passions of its celebrated hosts – Hugh Bonneville, Kim Cattrall, Joseph Fiennes, Morgan Freeman, David Harewood, and Christopher Plummer – to tell the stories behind the stories of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

The new season investigates A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear,Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew.

Behind every Shakespeare play there is a story. Shakespeare Uncovered Series II reveals not just the elements in the play, but the history of the play itself. What sparked the creation of each of these works? Where did Shakespeare get his plots, and what new forms of theater did he forge? What cultural, political and religious factors influenced his writing? How have the plays been staged and interpreted from Shakespeare’s time to now? Why at different times has each play been so popular – or ignored? And finally, why has this body of work endured so thoroughly? What, in the end, makes Shakespeare so great?

Download the full schedule and episode descriptions (PDF).

Bard Bits II

In conjunction with Shakespeare Uncovered Series II, WCVE PBS offers Bard Bits II, a series of one- to two-minute short programs featuring showstopper Shakespeare moments performed by the professional actors from the renowned Henley Street Theatre/Richmond Shakespeare organization.

Click on the Play button to begin or click on the Playlist link in the video player to jump to a video:

Shakespeare Uncovered is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Major funding is also provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, Dana and Virginia Randt, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Polonsky Foundation, Rosalind P. Walter, Jody and John Arnhold, the Corinthian International Foundation, and PBS.